Conspiracy of Shadows

by Keith Senkowski (Bobgoat Press)

Reviewed by Jasper McChesney

Conspiracy of Shadows is a role-playing game of medieval horror. It casts characters as hunters of truth, battling evil and uncovering clues to reveal a conspiracy of hideous magnitude. It's aim then, is true horror in gaming, with moral questions raised. And while there's plenty of combat as well, it's certainly no dungeon hack.

Before I go further, a brief preface. I have not done a lot of proper horror role-playing, and have never played Call of Cthulu or other such classics. I have however, played quite a few medieval games, especially those with a more historical bent, as CoS has. I'm acquainted with the author, Keith Senkowski, through online discussion forums, and have contracted art from him for my own game. Keith did not ask me to write this review, however, and I purchased CoS through Indie Press Revolution. With that out of the way, let's get on with the review.

Presentation

Text

The text generally does an adequate job of describing the rules and is basically clear. It isn't highly polished though and is occasionally wordy. There are some typos, mostly consisting of misplaced or missing words. The fiction and the examples are better written and actually quite decent, especially compared to most such writing in RPGs.

Art

Quite good. The majority of the pieces are very evocative, especially the author's monochrome work. The other art is of a more conventional pencil-shaded style, very detailed and well done. This latter set more often shows the horrors that might be part of the conspiracy (i.e. tentacled, many-mouthed monsters), while Senkowski's pieces generally stick to humans, albeit many of them twisted or deformed. Keith has told me he "doesn't do evil," so this makes sense. Generally a good mix of subject matter, given the nature of the game.

Layout

Also basically good. Each page is framed by top and bottom borders and most pages are broken up with some art or tables. Being an 8.5x11" book though, and with only one column, some of the pages are covered with a single block of solid text, which is hard to read (and find one's place in). A two-column layout or a narrower column might have been easier on the eyes.

Setting

The setting of CoS is presented prominently in the first half of the book, probably with a mind to orienting the reader before making him consider actual rules. Let me say upfront that extensive settings generally leave me pretty cold, though I'll try to evaluate this one fairly.

CoS's setting is fairly standard historical fantasy. Its featured continent, Polian, is essentially Europe during the Middle Ages, but with a few things shifted around and some unfamiliar names. It does focus more on Eastern Europe, however, which is refreshing. Many games have done this sort of thing before (e.g. The Riddle of Steel, Warhammer) and I often ask myself "Why not just use Europe itself and be done with it?" Those familiar with medieval history will recognize a great deal here, so for them the effective amount of content is probably lessened. On the other hand, creating a fictional world does give the author a kind of freedom, and Senkowski does diverge from real history in some interesting ways.

About half of the setting material describes the cultures that exist in Polian. Superficially these are fairly direct adaptations of real-world cultures. They're detailed in a standard sort of format, with sub-sections for culture, social organization and the obligatory bank of common names. What I found most interesting were the different kinds of social structures assigned to each culture. These are a definite divergence from the real world and offer some interesting character options and story hooks. I would have liked to have seen more detailed discussion of these cultures and how they work, but that may just be my inner anthropologist speaking.

The latter half of the setting chapter details more general aspects of the world, from geography to religion. History buffs won't find anything too unfamiliar. (I was happy to see the heresy of the Cathars take up a prominent role). If you're not a history buff, I imagine it'll be enough to get you up and running. However this section also contains what I consider the most intriguing of all the setting information, the "occult knowledge" bullets. These little paragraphs briefly outline the stories of super-natural horrors that circulate among the populace, one for each geographic area. Even though fairly vague, these provide some good hooks for adventuring, potentially at quick notice. I would definitely have welcomed more of these.

Overall, Senkowski diverges enough from real-world history to make things interesting, and to give himself and GMs some room for the fantastic. Some times I think that using a pseudo-Europe is just an easy way out and lets people escape doing any research. That definitely is not the case here and Senkowski is obviously familiar with medieval history. There are a few anachronisms and oddities but nothing serious.

Rules

I'll give you my basic conclusion up front: the rules of CoS seem very solid. There are many different pieces to the system, but I suspect they'll all come together quite harmoniously. The game doesn't attempt to do horror in the abstract but always keeps it centered on the characters and their

emotions. To my mind, there are strong parallels between CoS's mechanics and those of The Riddle of Steel (by Jacob Norwood) and Sorcerer (by Ron Edwards), and I wouldn't doubt that there was some direct inspiration. Those two games are among my favorites, so this is no bad thing.

Before we get to specifics, the text does little to describe basic organization of play, and is certainly aimed at existing role-players. At times it presents some high-minded, "avante-guard" ideas. For instance, it calls character creation an art form and often advocates player-empowerment by suggesting that the whole group should make decisions together, rather than just the GM. But at other times it seems much more traditional, for instance stating in Chapter 6 that it is the task of the GM to "create a story for the Players to play through." I suspect that this may just be common language Senkowski is using, while actually intending somewhat more "progressive" play. Certainly, there's room within the rules to play in a variety of ways.

Characters

Characters in CoS are defined pretty tightly by a handful of traits. There are attributes (4 of them) and skills, of course. "Descriptors" liven these up with modifiers in certain situations, positive or negative, and are crafted individually for each character (there's no stock list of them). "Cover" describes the character's day job, and is interesting in that it contributes points that later go towards the group's common holdings. If I seem to be skimming over the above items, good, because I intend to. The most important aspects of CoS characters are those dealing with his emotions, his Drive and Passion.

Passion describes some emotion that, well...drives the character to action. It ties into the Destiny Pool mechanic, which is basically a regularly refreshing pool of bonuses. Playing to the character's Passion grants him more Destiny, and playing against it gives him less. Drive is essentially the character's personal mission, as an investigator of the Conspiracy. Playing to it also grants bonuses and when resolved, the character retires. Together, Passion and Drive give each player some real direction for playing his character and the GM some hooks to grab on with. Similar in effect is the "Kicker," defined by the whole group as the exciting scene the game opens with. With characters relentlessly pursuing their personal goals and retiring when they're done, I don't imagine there are many dull moments for a CoS truth-seeker. The final aspect of character creation is the joint creation of a Cell, similar to a Coven in Ars Magicka. Points brought in by each character (based on his Cover) are used to purchase allies, buildings, libraries, personnel and so on.

My only complaint about this area of the game is the lack of examples. Some possible Descriptors are given, but nothing else. Drive and Passion could especially have benefited from some of their own. There is a sample character later, but one isn't quite enough.

Magic

Magic comes in two varieties, "Witchblood" powers and ritual magic. The Witchblood are characters with some innate "magical" talent, while ritual magic is done by priests and occultists, appealing to demons for power. Most of the individual spells and powers are interesting and fit the game's dark, brooding tone. You'll find no "magic missiles" here.

The Witchblood rules could do with some fleshing out though. It's often unclear when exactly you can use a power. What's the range on "Fire Dancing"? A lot is left up to the players. For instance, the text for ritual Banishing states that "If a sorcerer fails [an initial check]...the difficulty of the spell is increased. It is up to the Game Master to determine by how much." Some more guidelines would have been appreciated.

The ritual magic rules are generally more complete and more involved than those for the Witchblood. These are centered around the summoning and control of demons. They certainly bear a resemblance to the rules of Sorcerer, and have separate steps for "binding," "contacting" and so on. All the rituals are difficult and failing one may leave the caster fully at the mercy of a demon. This is harsh but not any less than it should be. Ritual magic in CoS is extremely powerful and not "balanced" except by the dangers of performing it. (While the Witchblood get fatigued when using their powers, I doubt if this is truly meant to balance them per se.) Two sample demons are provided in the back of the book, as well as rules for constructing your own (more on this later). The only fault to this section is a lack of context. I don't really know who should have access to ritual magic or how. Should player characters have it? Each group will have to answer these questions for itself it seems.

Overall, the magic in CoS is of good basic design and could be used very extensively or not at all. The Witchblood powers, however, may demand some house-rules.

Action Resolution

The core mechanic is a simple 2d6 roll, plus traits, with some occasions for rolling additional dice. It's described very briefly, with no example, however, and is not entirely clear from the first reading. As you might expect, there are also rules for automatic success, group action and "Resisted" (opposed) actions. Basic and traditional, but functional, all told.

Character advancement is described next in the book. CoS rewards dramatic actions (almost the generic "good role-playing" reward, but a bit more focused) and completion of character goals. The exactitudes of advancement are largely left up to the players however: Traits and Skills can be improved, or other abilities gained, but no further guidelines are given. I was also a little surprised not to see actual rules for keeping track of specific character goals, given that their fulfillment is rewarded. Overall, advancement is a little hazy.

Combat

Combat is treated in a lengthy section and is definitely given more detail than any other aspect of the rules.

I was very intrigued by the initiative system. It begins with a typical roll-off, but subsequently depends on combat success. From round to round, characters shift in imitative order based on how successful they were in the last round. Inside of each round (with multiple actions per character) a combatant can keep taking actions until he runs out of Endurance or fails in an attack; then someone else gets a turn. The "winners keep winning and losers keep losing" effect should be clear, but I find this interesting rather than a problem. This effect is seen again with the "Combos," where multiple successes in a row generate further bonuses for the character.

Actions are generally regulated by expending Endurance, which makes for a nice resource-playing game. I again see some parallels with The Riddle of Steel in CoS's range rules and its list of maneuvers. Each of these has some special effect, like disarming an opponent, and is activated with a further Endurance cost. The opening paragraph of the combat section states the twin goals of making combat grim and to resemble action movies. This is certainly apparent not just from the combo rules, but also from some more far-out maneuvers, like "volley" where two arrows are fired at the same target. I found this a somewhat awkward marriage, but YMMV (see below). Generally, the maneuvers seem pretty solid.

There are some pretty standard rules for being injured and healed, and numerous modifiers based on weapon and armor. All told, the handling of initiative and the Endurance rules were what interested me most. These, I think, make CoS's fighting distinctive, tactically interesting, and well clear of the "I hit you, you hit me" rut.

I'll also make one further remark on the system's historicity. Like the rest of the book, it's well researched and Senkowski includes some interesting tidbits, like an explanation of how armor and weapons technology develop in unison. This is not an area that I'm personally unfamiliar with, having practiced historical combat for several years now (and co-founded an historical combat organization). I'm not going to be nit-picky and discus details of historical accuracy here. I've yet to see a system that captures historical combat's realities and I don't think I ever really will. But, that said, the system in CoS is as good as any I've seen. (Yes, as good as tRoS's, though less detailed.)

Final Chapter

The last chapter of the book is ostensibly for GMs and ontains four sections. The first provides some advice on creating a conspiracy and on running the game. It asks good questions that a GM will need to answer before play. The second section has a slew of miscellaneous rules, dealing with disease, poisons and, significantly, Horror. The Horror rules require checks to be made by horrified characters, who then suffer penalties if they fail. These penalties are not extreme in their effects and would not, I think, be frustrating.

The third section deals with supernatural threats. Here you'll find rules for creating demons and other horrors to visit on the characters. These are among the best rules of the game, quite complete and also flexible. Demons and other supernatural beings are treated much like characters. They're given a Drive and can have Witchblood powers, as well as powers unique to them (with appropriate demonic flavor, e.g. "possession" or "spawn"). As with the other magic in CoS, these powers are very great and there's no point system for making a "balanced" demon (thank goodness). The creatures do have disadvantages of their own though: having signatures that give them away and Weaknesses which cause them harm in the presence of some material or object. GMs shouldn't have any trouble making appropriately horrific beings.

The very final section of the book deals with Taint. This is akin to Horror, described above, but much more serious. Taint is acquired by committing immoral actions. But what makes it interesting is that being tainted is both beneficial and problematic. For instance, at level 5 Taint, a character dodges all attacks. Yes, all attacks. But he also hears voices in his head and, I think more importantly, had to commit some heinous acts to get there. A good GM would certainly provide situations where characters must choose between an evil but efficacious act and a good but futile one, forcing characters to make hard choices. That's definitely a recipe for some solid game-play.

Conclusion

Conspiracy of Shadows is a solid game of medieval horror. I would have liked to see more explanation of some of the rules, as well as more examples, but these are not serious complaints. CoS accomplishes its goals admirably and I'm sure will yield some quality gaming.